Alabama's Immigration Debate

Monday, May 05, 2008 - 11:33 PM

By Jennifer Hale
E-mail | Biography
The debate over immigrant workers - both legal and illegal - is exploding across Alabama. Some warn immigrants are taking jobs from locals in tough economic times, but some employers say they're desperate to find unskilled, manual labor. Now, a state bi-partisan commission is pushing a new set of suggested rules that could change the face of Alabama's workforce.

People on both sides of this debate feel like their livelihoods, safety and future security depend on how this issue is sorted out. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, more than 20 million foreign born Hispanic workers are here in the US - both legally and illegally. For many on the front lines of this debate - it's a double edged sword.

Dennis Maze is a third generation farmer in Blount County who's stretched thin given today's economy.

He raises cows and chickens...and lately - it's hard to find help.

"People don't want to do this type of work anymore. We've raised a generation of children that don't know how to work," says Maze.

The solution for many Alabama farmers: hiring migrant workers, many of them Hispanic.

"They're dependable. They will show up for work. If they can't come, they send someone in their place. That's not the case with American workers. I'm short handed today because I didn't have people show up for work, and it put a hardship in me," says Maze.



Maze estimates on Alabama farms and in Alabama's agricultural processing plants, Hispanic immigrants now do more than 70% of the unskilled labor jobs. They've made themselves a vital part of alabama's economy - in Maze's opinion.

"We've got to have the work force. If you lost that, the plants would just basically have to shut down," says Maze.

But it's complicated to make sure immigrant workers are legal. Maze says especially for small businesses - like a family farm - its tough to spot fake documents.

"It's harder to know and have a way of finding out for sure. The bigger companies have a way - e-verification and knowing what documents are legal because they've got the money to hire people to verify the workers," says Maze.

Here in Alabama, Maze says illegals are also sharing documents to make it look like they're here legally.

"You might have one social security number with five people using it. It happens, it happens. I would not be being truthful with you if I told you it didn't happen," explains Maze.

The pitfalls of verifying whether immigrants are legal is one of the big reasons Jasper farmer Dorman Grace refuses to hire them. Plus he's committed to passing farming traditions down to the next generation.

"We're proud of our farming background and agrarian heritage. We want that to continue on," says Jasper farmer Dorman Grace.

But Grace says he's lucky. Grace's farm is small enough, he can get by without hiring immigrant labor. Grace says he knows a lot of his larger fellow farmers can't.

"You can't get enough local help. Most everybody who wants a job has a job," says Grace.

"They're taking a whole lot from us - they're taking a whole lot from the community," complains Birmingham day laborer Tim Johnson.

Birmingham city day laborers like Tim Johnson who wait for work at what's called "Catch Out Corner" on First Avenue and 14th Street South, passionately disagree that everyone who wants a job has one.

"It's hard - very hard. They very seldom come down here anymore. Out of ten people sitting down here - 4 might go to work," says Jimmie, a local Birmingham day laborer.

Jimmie is afraid to use his full name because he worries he may be targeted for speaking out against Hispanic workers. He's been working from "Catch Out Corner" for 30 plus years...most of which were good to him. But now, not as many cars drive down the street and very few stop to hire Jimmie and his friends.

Jimmie says he gets now gets work one or two times a week, despite the fact he waits at "Catch Out Corner" everyday, even Sundays. Five years ago, Jimmie says it was a different story.

"I got work everyday, everyday," remembers Jimmie.

Jimmie blames the hard times on Hispanic workers - like day laborers in Hoover - whether they're legal or not.

"They come over here, they get all the jobs, they take them from us. We've been here all our lives. We grew up here - Birmingham is our home," says Jimmie.

"We do have problems - we've got to address those problems, and it's not going to be easy," admits Maze.

Maze says Alabama farmers do need immigrant laborers, but they also want a way to verify those immigrants are legal, tax paying workers. An important balance that's hard to find.

Maze is part of a new group called the Alabama Patriotic Immigration Commission. Members have just finished an in-depth study of how Alabama can fix some of the problems with immigrant workers.

Tuesday at ten, we will look at some of those suggestions which range from ensuring locals get offered available jobs first to starting a nationwide verification process for checking immigrant workers documents.



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